Forgive me for disregarding Easter Island and just looking at the Milky Way instead!
Here is some of the stuff we can see in the APOD:
Here is a closeup of the Rho Ophiuchi nebular complex:
Credit: Astro Pixel Processor Aries Productions,
possibly Mabula Haverkamp
Baade's Window is the relatively clear and dust-free region in Sagittarius where we can see deep into the bulge of the Milky Way, quite close to the galactic center. Baade's Window is yellow from the light of millions (and possibly billions) of mostly small yellow and red stars.
The Scutum Star Cloud is another relatively dust-free region where we see a part of the bulge of the Milky Way:
There is no ongoing star formation in the Scutum Star Cloud, but rich open cluster M11 is located near one of its dust lanes:
M24 is the only extended region in the Milky Way that is bright from young stars:
The most famous nebula in the Milky Way is almost certainly the Orion Nebula. The Carina Nebula, which is much larger, is also very famous. But the Lagoon Nebula, which can actually be seen in today's APOD, must certainly be one of the top three:
Back to the APOD. There are two things I'd like you to notice about the appearance of the Milky Way. First, that our galaxy appears to be "smoking", as smoke seems to rise from it and spread in all directions. This may be a real phenomenon, although I can't recall seeing it before.
The second thing I want you to notice is the entire right part of the thick broad central dust lane, where absolutely no star formation appears to be taking place. Indeed, star formation in the Milky Way is winding down, and we are a "green valley" galaxy, transitioning from a richly starforming "blue" galaxy into a "red and dead" one, where no (or extremely little) star formation is taking place. Between the "Blue Cloud" galaxies and the "Red Sequence" galaxies is the Green valley. We are in the valley!
Well, being in a green valley is not so bad. There are worse things.
Ann
Milky Way over Easter Island
